Carbo‐Permian pteridophyll leaf fragments from an amphibolite facies basement, Tauern Window, Austria

Franz, Gerhard; Mosbruggr, V.; Menge, R.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-3121.1991.tb00865.x

Cited by 26 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Although this "fossil" record decreases in outcrop abundance the older the rocks are (basically due to burial, erosion, subduction, and metamorphism), biosignatures can be found in sedimentary rocks (Schopf 1983;Schopf and Klein 1992;Schieber et al 2007;Noffke 2010), but also in igneous (Banerjee et al 2006;Furnes et al 2004Furnes et al , 2007bFliegel et al 2010) and metamorphic (Franz et al 1991;Hanel et al 1999: Squire et al 2006Bernard et al 2007;Schiffbauer et al 2007Schiffbauer et al , 2012Schiffbauer and Xiao 2009;Zang 2007) rocks of all ages.…”

Section: A Note On Biosignaturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early life on land and the first terrestrial ecosystems

Beraldi-Campesi¹

2013

Ecol Process

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Terrestrial ecosystems have been largely regarded as plant-dominated land surfaces, with the earliest records appearing in the early Phanerozoic (<550 Ma). Yet the presence of biological components in pre-Phanerozoic rocks, in habitats as different as soils, peats, ponds, lakes, streams, and dune fields, implies a much earlier type of terrestrial ecosystems. Microbes were abundant by~3,500 Ma ago and surely adapted to live in subaerial conditions in coastal and inland environments, as they do today. This implies enormous capacities for rapid adaptations to changing conditions, which is supported by a suggestive fossil record. Yet, evidence of "terrestrial" microbes is rare and indirect in comparison with fossils from shallow or deeper marine environments, and its record has been largely overlooked. Consequently, the notion that microbial communities may have formed the earliest land ecosystems has not been widely accepted nor integrated into our general knowledge. Currently, an ample record of shallow marine and lacustrine biota in~3,500 Ma-old deposits, together with evidence of microbial colonization of coastal environments~3,450 Ma ago and indirect geochemical evidence that suggests biological activity in >3,400 Ma-old paleosols endorses the idea that life on land perhaps occurred in parallel with aquatic life back in the Paleoarchean. The rapid adaptations seen in modern terrestrial microbes, their outstanding tolerance to extreme and fluctuating conditions, their early and rapid diversification, and their old fossil record collectively suggest that they constituted the earliest terrestrial ecosystems, at least since the Neoarchean, further succeeding on land and forming a biomass-rich cover with mature soils where plant-dominated ecosystems later evolved. Understanding how life diversified and adapted to non-aquatic conditions from the actualistic and paleontological perspective is critical to understanding the impact of life on the Earth's systems over thousands of millions of years.

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Section: A Note On Biosignaturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early life on land and the first terrestrial ecosystems

Beraldi-Campesi¹

2013

Ecol Process

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“…The following formations fall into the post-Variscan and Pre-Mesozoic age range with certainty: (1) the MaurertalFormation overlying the ''Altkristallin'' of the ZillertalRiffl Nappe dated with fossils as Westphalian to Stephanian in age (312-299 Ma; Franz et al 1991;Pestal et al 1999) and (2) the so-called ''Porphyrmaterialschiefer'' comprising volcanites dated at around 283 Ma based on U-Pb zircon ages (Söllner et al 1991;Loth et al 1997). The latter are widespread in higher tectonic units (Wolfendorn Nappe; Frisch 1973/74) but also occur, together with Triassic marbles, in the Upper Palaeozoic cover of the Tux-Granatspitz Nappe near the contact to the Glockner Nappe system .…”

Section: Post-variscan Covermentioning

confidence: 99%

The Tauern Window (Eastern Alps, Austria): a new tectonic map, with cross-sections and a tectonometamorphic synthesis

et al. 2013

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We present a tectonic map of the Tauern Window and surrounding units (Eastern Alps, Austria), combined with a series of crustal-scale cross-sections parallel and perpendicular to the Alpine orogen. This compilation, largely based on literature data and completed by own investigations, reveals that the present-day structure of the Tauern Window is primarily characterized by a crustal-scale duplex, the Venediger Duplex (Venediger Nappe system), formed during the Oligocene, and overprinted by doming and lateral extrusion during the Miocene. This severe Miocene overprint was most probably triggered by the indentation of the Southalpine Units east of the Giudicarie Belt, initiating at 23-21 Ma and linked to a lithosphere-scale reorganization of the geometry of mantle slabs. A kinematic reconstruction shows that accretion of European lithosphere and oceanic domains to the Adriatic (Austroalpine) upper plate, accompanied by highpressure overprint of some of the units of the Tauern Window, has a long history, starting in Turonian time (around 90 Ma) and culminating in Lutetian to Bartonian time (45-37 Ma).

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“…No fossils have been found so far, but the stratigraphic position and the lithology are similar to the fossil bearing WestfalianStefanian graphite schists of the Maurer Kees in the central Tauern window (Franz et al 1991;Pestal et al1999). In the area of the Birglbergkar-Grierkar (Fig.…”

Section: The Riffler-schönach Basin and Its Rhyodacitic And Andesiticmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…The post-Variscan sedimentation in the western Tauern window began in the Westfalian (rhyodacitic synsedimentary volcanism in the Riffler-Schönach basin, . Westfalian-Stefanian fossils are documented from the Maurer Kees basin (Franz et al 1991;Pestal et al 1999). …”

Section: Late Palaeozoic Synsedimentary Volcanism In the Western Tauementioning

confidence: 97%

Magmato-sedimentary Carboniferous to Jurassic evolution of the western Tauern window, Eastern Alps (constraints from U-Pb zircon dating and geochemistry)

Veselá

Söllner

Finger

et al. 2010

Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch)

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New geochronological U-Pb (LA-ICP-MS) zircon data and geochemical analyses from the Variscan orthogneisses and metavolcanic rocks in the western Tauern window are presented and used to reconstruct the pre-Alpine evolution of this area. The late-and post-Variscan stage in the Tauern window was characterised by distinct magmatic pulses accompanied by the formation of volcano-sedimentary basins. The magmatic activity started in the Visean (335.4 ± 1.5 Ma) with the intrusion of a K-rich, durbachitic biotite-granite (protolith of the Ahorn gneiss). Following a period of exhumation and erosion, Westfalian-Stefanian volcanics were deposited (Grierkar meta-rhyodacite: 309.8 ± 1.5 Ma; Venntal meta-rhyolite: 304.0 ± 3.0 Ma). A renewed magmatic pulse occurred in the Early Permian, producing large volumes of tonalites and granodiorites (Tux meta-granodiorite: 292.1 ± 1.9 Ma). The youngest magmatism is characterised by pyroclastic and tuffitic deposits (Pfitsch meta-rhyolite: 280.5 ± 2.6 Ma; Schönach valley meta-andesite: 279.0 ± 4.8 Ma). This volcanism was probably related to crustal extensional faulting within an intra-continental graben and horst setting, asthenospheric upwelling and heat flow increase due to the onset of the Permian rifting. The Permo-Triassic peneplanation and subsidence is documented by shallow marine and evaporitic deposits. Probably in the Middle Jurassic times, the area was flooded and in the Late Jurassic the whole area was covered by limestones, representing post-rift sediments on the southern European continental margin.

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Carbo‐Permian pteridophyll leaf fragments from an amphibolite facies basement, Tauern Window, Austria

Cited by 26 publications

References 5 publications

Early life on land and the first terrestrial ecosystems

Early life on land and the first terrestrial ecosystems

The Tauern Window (Eastern Alps, Austria): a new tectonic map, with cross-sections and a tectonometamorphic synthesis

Magmato-sedimentary Carboniferous to Jurassic evolution of the western Tauern window, Eastern Alps (constraints from U-Pb zircon dating and geochemistry)

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